A Crystalline Love Story
by Rinelde
Summary: Meet Alrean Tli Zengat, proud daughter of the Alchemist Zeh gratt. She's leaving home for the first time on her caravan. Away from home should'nt be so tough, should it? Ahah, looks like we have a Clavatian boy to spoil her fun. Here's just the introducti


The Crystal Chronicles

A Crystalline Love Story

"Alrean! Alrean!" A high pitched voice called, and a Selkie's eyes immediately opened. The butterflies in her stomach flapped hard; she could barely sit in her bed. She sat up quickly, her hair mussed and tangled. She smiled at her little sister, Momo Phiy as she smiled back at her.

"Alrean! You're so lucky! You get to start your caravan today!" She bounces beside my bed, "But I wish you didn't have to go…" Her giddiness faded within seconds as she frowned, as Alrean did as well.

"Do not fret, Momo Phiy, you know I will come to visit you as much as I can. But this is an exciting day for your sister, you should be happy for me."

"I am, I am!" She pouted, "But I don't want you to go! You're all I have."

"What about Gan Noo?" She blinked, and Momo Phiy shook her head.

"He's always with that girl."

"What about mother?" She asked again, speaking of her mother, Rah Sie.

"No, she's always busy with housework and tending to the other needs of Tipa!"

"What about father?" She asked once again, and Momo Phiy giggled.

"He's too old to play magicite with me!" She began, "And he's the same as momma!"

She frowned once again, but was able to force a weak smile, "Such a predicament you have, Momo Phiy…how about this, you send letters to me through Moogles and Ill always reply? I'll write to you too!"

She sighed, and looked down, "I guess so…"

"See? We can reach a compromise."

"You sound like papa," she replied with a stressed tone.

Alrean said nothing more as she stood up from her bed, and patted Momo Phiy on her head. She looked up at Alrean with big, beautiful blue eyes, full with tears, "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Momo Phiy."

_My father, Zeh Gratt, was a well respected alchemist, which was my family's work. He could mix and create anything, and taught me a thing or two along the way of me growing up. I was always fond of my father, but there was always a mystery about him I could never figure out. He and mother always told me stories about the places around the world. They would smile and talk about how when I grow up, that I would be a successful caravan leader, and I would fight away all the monsters. It scared me to think that such a thing could happen; that I would go out into the big world, full of miasma, and monsters, and fight them all off to bring back a years worth of myrrh for the village of Tipa, my home. But today was the day that my parents always talked about. My father was so proud of me as I stepped out of my room, out of the house into the village of Tipa._

"Ah hah! There's my girl!" Zeh Gratt smiled brightly as he embraced Alrean for a hug. She smiled warmly and hugged her father back.

"Such a wonderful day for you, Alrean!" Her mother, Rah Sie approached as well, and smiled, like everyone else. "You must be excited. Oh, my little girl is all grown up and starting her own caravan!"

"Of course I'm excited, mother. But you also cannot imagine the anxiety I'm feeling."

"I can," Zeh Gratt nodded, and ended the embrace, "I can understand, young Alrean. But it is your time to do for you village what previous Tipa-landers have done for you."

She nodded, "Yes, Zeh, I understand."

She called her father by his first name because of the great respect she had for him. He should not be known as father, though he finds that job very rewarding and proud, but he should be known as the individual, great man that he is. Zeh Gratt.

Her mother handed her a bag full of 200 gil, and meat and fish wrapped tightly. "Your favorite," She smiles.

Alrean smiled back and licked her lips, "Thank you, mother, I shall enjoy these when my stomach rumbles."

Gan Noo, her brother, snuck up behind her and patted her on the back, with much force, "Ah, my little sister ready for her caravan."

Alrean jumped slightly, and turned around quickly, "Gan Noo!" She blinked, and smirked, "Well, well, at least I am helping Tipa and not sitting around, being a lazy bum like you!"

He rolled his eyes, "Yes, sure, but soon once I ask that beautiful Ren Fah to marry me, there will be more Zengats about!"

"Un needed Information, Gan Noo, un needed," She shuddered and crossed her arms, "Well then, you have good luck with that."

Alrean smiled and waved to everyone, and took the weapon that Zeh had given her. She swung it over her head, trying it out once more before she set off, like she did many a time last night. Her fellow Tipa-landers cheered and clapped, and sang,

_Alrean, Alrean, set off, again._

_Alrean, Alrean, for the first time!_

_Alrean, Alrean, set off, again._

_Alrean, Alrean, come back home!_

_Bring the mighty myrrh with you!_

She smiled brightly and laughed, waving once more, as Momo Phiy stepped out from the crowd, drowning in tears as she ran my way. I kneeled to the ground, and caught her trembling frame as she tripped.

"Alrean, please don't go! Make them send someone else!" Momo Phiy cried, and I patted her back to sooth her.

"Momo Phiy, please. I'll be back."

"No you wont, the monsters are going to get you!" She cried again, and dug her face into Alrean's chest, and Alrean frowned.

"Momo Phiy…here…" She pushed her forward slightly, and pulled out a necklace from underneath her shirt. A crystal, embedded within the Selkie crest. Alrean put it around her neck and wiped her tears away, "As long as my crystal is lit with the blue color you see in it now, you will know I'm alive. It indicates my life force, Momo Phiy. So you'll know when I'm alright or not."

Momo Phiy sniffed, and nodded, holding the crest in her hands, "…Ok, Alrean Tli. Promise me you'll come back."

"Of course I will, Momo Phiy. Count on me."

_Alrean Tli Zengat, sent off by her father Zeh Gratt and her mother Rah Sie. Her brother Gan Noo, and her little sister, Momo Phiy. The family of alchemists wave goodbye to a dear family member, waiting for the return of their loved one, as she carries with her the crystal chalice, soon to be full of myrrh._

"I'm a Selkie!" Alrean boomed proudly as she walked down the road, the caravan being pulled along behind her, "Ah, yes, this is a proud day for Selkies! I WILL be the greatest caravan there ever was! For all the tribes! I can see it now, my name, the village of Tipa, news all across the world of the great caravan of Alrean Tli Zengat!"

"Pfft," A voice sounded, as if from nowhere. Alrean stopped, and looked about, "…what? Who was that?" She asked the nothingness, getting no reply. She crossed her arms, and cocked a brow, shifting her weight to one side of her body as she waited, "I said, WHO was that? You better answer, or I'll find you myself!"

"For the first day of your caravan, you're pretty full of yourself," The voice sounded again, as a figure stepped out from the trees.

"Hmm. Selkie." The figure smirked. The figure came to be a Clavatian boy, a Natural. Light brown, messy hair fell over his eyes. His dark eyes.

Alrean frowned, "A Clavat. Pfft. Nothing but a seed planter."

"We Clavats provide you Selkies, the Yukes, and the Lilties with the finest produce and water, we keep you alive! So you should be kneeling before me! What good are you Selkies for?"

Alrean smirked, "We happen to be good with agility and battle. Fine guards, who will save your agricultural little butt."

"Pfft," He rolled his eyes again, "Whatever. Just another headstrong Selkie."

"No, not headstrong, just optimistic, passionate, proud to be a Selkie. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm on my way to collect the myrrh!" Alrean huffed, and went on her way again, the little Moogle in the cart, long awoken, alights into the air after the Clavat is out of sight. He hovers above her head, and next to her face.

"You were really polite back there," The Moogle frowned, and implied it sarcastically.

"He started it," Alrean pouted.

"Oh, stop acting like a child, Alrean! You're in a caravan now, have respect for the other tribes as they do for Selkies!" The Moogle exclaimed, and perched on top of the crystal chalice.

"I do have respect for other tribes, Mog," Alrean began, and then smirked, "Just none for that particular little Clavat who had the nerve to come up and say those things to me."

"I'll give you that," Mog flapped his wings, and folded them upon his back, "But maybe if you weren't strutting about, thinking you're all high and mighty, he wouldn't have had the nerve to put you in line."

Alrean blinked, and stopped, "Oh really? Put me in line? Can't you at least give me some credit for being positive about my journeys ahead of me?"

Mog smiled weakly, "Hey, I do, but the way you were goin' like that made me cringe…Not to mention the way you were eating that fish."

Alrean cocked a brow, and then frowned, "You don't like the way I do things, eh?" She let the chalice balance on her head, and continued walking. The chalice fell off, Mog still on it of course, and forced him to struggle with carrying it, after the surprise drop.

"Then I'll let you carry the chalice," She grinned, and went on her way, merrily, the wagon pulled by the big blue animal beside her.

Mog winced at the sharp pain he felt as the chalice dropped, and lifted it back up, and began to fly her way.


End file.
